A whole new person

Sometimes I feel like I am not the same person anymore. I look in the mirror and see a different me and when I hear myself talk I'm like.. who the hell is that girl?

But I think thats just the lardass in me fighting change. hahah. So far I've been able to shut her up with weight watchers turtles. only 50 calories each and if i've been good all day then i allow myself one after dinner if I'm just especially craving something extra.

But seriously though... I hear myself talking about working out alllllll the time and saying oh i just lost another pound. The old me used to think that one pound meant absolutely nothing because I could go up and down 2 or 3 lbs everyday just because. Which of course is still true. But the old me knew nothing about maintaining a healthy diet and knowing my calorie intake. Now one pound means leaps and bounds to me. I rejoice every single one I hit, because that is just one more down on my way to healthy. :)

I used to make fun of girls who obsessed over eating that extra cookie or that fun size bag of chips or whatever and who were always talking about omg i just lost 1 lb!! But now I know why they did it and I feel like a huge dummy. haha. And a little mean spirited. I think the fatter you are the meaner you get though. It's slowly melting away and with each pound shed, I become not only a healthier Jen, but a happier one. :)

I'm still here!

Sorry guys... I know its been a week since I last posted. Things have just been kinda down here the last few days and the other days I was kinda busy. Spent some time with my son and my nephews at the Dallas Zoo one day. Spent a day out with some girlfriends another day and then had Jett in the ER trying to figure out why he had this strange rash on his face that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere. He's alright, turns out it was just 5th Disease, aka Slapped Cheeks Syndrome. Apparently its very common, and similar to chicken pox in that you usually only get it once and its very itchy and highly contagious. There's no real treatment necessary for children and its usually only dangerous if you have sickle cell anemia or are a pregnant woman. I am a little surprised that I had never heard of it before though. They gave me some info on it at the hospital and then I came home and googled it and realized it was really strange that its super common and I never heard much of it. I did recall one of my online besties saying her son got it a year or two ago but I didn't know what it was and didnt really ask much about it back then. But as soon as they told me that's what Jett had I was like ohhh yeah I remember Melissa posting pictures of Jonathan with the same red puffy cheeks now. lol.

Anywayssssss though!

There were a couple days where I did not exercise anywhere near as much as the full 2 hours I wanted. I did do at least 30 minutes everyday though except yesterday. Yesterday was the first day I didn't exercise at all. I felt like crap all day and couldnt pull myself out of this funk I've been in. Today when I got up though I knew I needed to kick myself in the ass and start a new and hope like hell I hadn't strayed too far off path. I decided to do my morning cardio to TV this morning instead of watching a workout i just did some boxing and some jogging intermittently while watching a DVR'd I Used to be Fat episode. Speaking of that... I just mentioned it to Kirsten because it really really helped me out for today. Here's what I said and her response. :)



I love hearing back from the IUTBF kids. They are always so positive and just all around awesome. :) Such bright young role models. <3


Anyways... I've been rocking it today. Eating well and got an hour and a half down so far. Just 30 more minutes I think I will do right after I post this blog. :) I weighed in and was actually a bit shocked to see that I've gone down another pound and a half even though I wasn't working out as hard as normal I had still been trying to stay within calorie range as much as possible. So yay for that. Seeing the numbers on the scale go down is just one more thing to help me stay on track and feel positive about pushing myself harder.

Finally got some workout clothes that my mom bought for me and they feel great to work out in. There's a lot less friction than in my old t shirts and pajama bottoms. lol. I look like a blob in them, but I think that kinda helps the motivation too haha.

Going to go out dancing with my two best friends this Thursday since one of them is moving to California in another week or so and I wont see her til God knows when... so I tried on an outfit that's been hiding away in my closest because it's never fit well and looked good enough on me that I'd dare wearing it outside of the house. Well I loved the way it looked this time! I am totally wearing it this Thursday and going to have to post some pictures here! :D

30 pounds down!!!

OH SNAP!!!! Looky what I saw today! I'm down 30 lbs in a little less than 10 weeks just by eating properly and exercising every single day. It's amazing what a little hard work will do for you! :)

Summer will be here in a little over 10 more weeks so If I can drop another 30 by then... whoo! That'd rock my freaking socks off. :D

I feel great...

I really feel like I'm on the path to success. I can feel my body working and getting sore from how hard I'm pushing myself. Of course if I start hurting wrong or something like my knee started feeling funny the other day, then i know its time to take a break and do something less strenuous.

for the last week I've been going down about a pound a day and I feel great. I am hopeful that I can get down to 230 by the time 1 more month is down. I know my next goal is set at 225 but 25 lbs in 31 days is probably gonna be hard. i will be ecstatic if i can do that of course. but being realistic i think reaching for 230 by april 15th sounds like a plan. :)

I am at 244 today :) 29 lbs down since Jan 15th!

Unhealthy vs Healthy

I just had 3 chicken fajitas for dinner with shredded cheese and tomatoes on top. It totaled less calories than the 10 piece chicken nuggets my mom and dad had without fries or a drink added.
>_>


yeah i am totally full and wouldn't be if i had the chicken nuggets. blehhh

Changing things up a bit

I really wanted to start this new month off with a bang and do Jillean Michaels' 30 day shred but my dad got the dvd in and lost it!!! We've been searching the whole house and can't find it. I had to wait weeks to get the dang thing and now its gone... urg!

I did get in Jillean Michael's Last Chance Workout though. I have never seen an episode of the biggest loser, but I figured she must be doing something right to be getting all these people to drop sooo much weight so it was worth a try. Well today I tried that dvd and wow... it started off kinda slow and I was like oh hey this isnt too bad... then it just got worse and worse and worse. But that's a good thing! lol. I need an extra push sometimes and I definitely got it today. She kicked my ass and even had me kicking my own ass. Literally! lol.

I am about to go checkout another DVD i got in though that's with the Dancing with the Stars people, it's gonna get me working out and learning some dance moves! woot :)

Knowledge is Power

It really is. I've always loved that saying. I strive to know things. Some people think that makes me nosey or nerdy or whatever. But meh... I NEED to know things. lol. I hate not knowing things. Some things I just can't help not knowing though of course because I've never been exposed to the idea of those things before so I've never had the chance to gain an interest in them. Like there are some really basic things I feel like I should have learned a long time ago about how to eat well and take care of my body. Why doesn't everyone know these things?? There should be more in depth health classes at school I think, and they should start at a much younger age than just high school. I had 1 Health class that only lasted for 1 semester out of all 13 years of K-12th grade. As much as I know there is to learn about it now, I am really pretty upset that this isn't a more important subject!

Anyways... more to the point, I am so very glad to be living in the day and age that I do now. The internet is the best thing ever pretty much. I love that almost limiteless knowledge rests at the my fingertips. I love that there have been years and years of research and study done over long periods of time by lots of other people than me who have tested theories about how to do things right and get the best results. In all aspects of life of course, but more specifically speaking, in how to live healthy and burn excess weight. Because time is everything, especially when you are a mother. I don't want to waste my time trying all sorts of things that won't work, so I can just google til my hearts content to find the things that do work! I love it. :)

Some info I found out yesterday...

Drinking ice cold water burns more calories than drinking it room temperature because your body has to heat itself up to regulate the temps.

Studies show that working out for about 30 minutes as soon as you wake up before you eat anything burns more calories all throughout the day than exercising at any other time of the day. When you wake up and have an empty stomach your body is forced to pull energy from the fat that is already stored on your body as opposed to whatever you eat for breakfast that day. While working out before you go to bed is still good for you, it doesn't burn as many calories because when you go to sleep your body's metabolism goes down to it's slowest rate.

2 months!

Alright so I finally reached the 2 month mark! The last couple weeks were a struggle to get myself back on track to where I needed to be. I am now at 248 lbs and 25 lbs lost. It's only 8 lbs since last month, but last month was short a few days and I gained some due to not sticking 100% to my routine when I should have. I have lost it all back though and feel like I can keep on trucking along. :)

So far it has been 59 days so on average I am losing 1 lb every 2.39 days, so thats a little less than half a pound per day. Not too shabby! :) At this rate I will be to my finish goal in somewhere right around 300 days. So just a little less than a year. That is of course if I can control myself through the holidays. lol. Lookout 2012!!! :)

Here are my measurements

Starting measurement > Newest one > Amount lost

Bust - 51 in > 47.5 in > 3.5 in
Waist - 53 in > 48.5 in > 4.5 in
Hips - 58 in > 54.5 in > 3.5 in
Arms - 17 in > 16 in > 1 in
Thighs - 31 in > 29 in > 2 in
Calves - 19.5 in > 19 in > 0.5 in
Neck - 16.5 > 15.5 > 1 in

Writing poetry

I like to write poems to help me put in to words how I'm feeling at different points in my life. Tonight this is what came to me.

Despair

Despair is where I find myself
trying hard to change my health
Its been easy to improve my heart
I thought that'd be the toughest part
My body does what I tell it to
finally I know just what to do
The challenge I did not expect
is learning how my mind reflects
My soul will take the longest time
to figure out how to reach sublime
Until the day I feel complete
I will not surrender to defeat

Back from vacation...

So I tried really hard on the car ride down to stick to eating only so many calories and started off great but by the end of the day we had stopped to eat out for lunch and dinner and my diet was way off track by then. As soon as we got checked in to the hotel though I went to check out the gym facilities and spent the last 30 minutes in there before it closed for the night. The next day my food choices were much slimmer and we again went out to eat for lunch and dinner. I decided that since the last time I was on vacation anywhere was about 7 years ago so I should cut myself some slack and just enjoy myself food-wise. Of course I didn't purposely try to go overboard and order a whole slew of grossly fattening foods, but I ate what I wanted and tried not to worry. We were in the middle of downtown St. Louis so it was easiest to just walk everywhere we wanted to go instead of taking the car and paying for parking, etc. I walked my butt off all day and then when I finally got around to getting back to the hotel I spent an hour and a half in the gym using the treadmill, elliptical, stationary bikes, and all sorts of weight machines to work my arms and legs. I think my favorite one was the one that works your inner thighs, though it was kind of a tie with the one that works your outer thighs.

The next morning I made sure I woke up earlier than my parents and went down to spend as much time in the gym as I could before they said it was time to go. I spent another hour and a half there enjoying a beautiful view of the city and the Gateway Arch from the top level of our hotel while burning off as many calories as I could. Then I went and got showered and packed up ready to go. My parents were busy visiting the Haunted House Convention one last time before we had to leave so I spent the next 30 minutes just wandering the streets of town while waiting on them to get back to the car. I really loved being in the city and being able to walk anywhere I wanted to go. Here you'd have to walk 10 miles to get anywhere besides a gas station or the lake. I came upon a huge crowd of folks all dressed in green and getting ready to watch the St. Patrick's day Parade Run. Took a few pictures and then headed on back to meet up with my parents and go back to Texas.

On the drive home yesterday we ended up stopping at a Taco bell for lunch and then didnt eat dinner until we made it home at like 11pm. Then it was just find whatever you could in the fridge and go for it. I ate freely and figured today I would get myself back on track eating right and continuing my workouts. As I stepped on the scale this morning I was hoping it hadn't gone up too drastically yet preparing myself for the worst. To my pleasant surprise I was only up 0.7 lbs! And that was after I ate breakfast this morning. I usually try to do my weigh ins before I eat anything and after I go to the restroom so I can get the most accurate weight. So overall I am very happy and still proud of myself for at least keeping up with working out while I was away from home and not feeling like I deprived myself of enjoying any good meals with my family or anything like that.

Advice & Tips

So I've been thinking for awhile I need to compile a list of all the best tips and advice I have attained over the course of the last couple months because people are always asking me what I am doing to lose the weight. Someone just what they could do to lose weight in a forum that I frequent and this is what I said to them:

You can use a site like fatsecret.com to count your calories

Drink water. Replace all of your daily intake of fluids with water. No soda, No juice, No milk. Just water. This way you aren't drinking your calories. Though I do occasionally indulge in a bit of OJ or milk sometimes when I get the craving. No use in denying myself something that is only going to make me binge later if I don't have it. Also, you should drink a protein shake after your workout everyday to keep your muscles strong. It wont necessarily bulk you up or anything too bad so dont worry about that. You can even use it to replace a meal if you want.

Stay between 1200-1400 calories per day.

When you are done eating at each meal you should brush your teeth right away so you aren't tempted to snack unhealthily between meals.

Stop eating at least 3 hours before you go to bed.

Try to cut out added sugars and stick to ones that are already there. If you need something sweet try strawberries or grapes or other fruits like melons.

Eating a banana before you workout will help give you a rush of sugar/energy and keep you on the right track for success.

Try replacing hamburger meat with ground turkey. Bacon for turkey bacon. Regular eggs for just egg whites. Etc.. Small changes make a huge difference.

Eating fresh spinach in salads is better than iceburg lettuce which doesn't have much nutritional value. The spinach is good for your iron intake and isn't just filler in your tummy.

If you want something to snack on that's easy to grab then instead of getting a bag of chips you should try this. Divide your foods up by serving size, beforehand, in to small ziplock bags so you aren't tempted to overeat. For example, I just divided a bag of babycarrots in to what the serving size said. It says there are approx 10 servings per bag so i got out 10 ziplock bags and made sure there was the same number of carrots in every bag. Then i did the same with my wheat thins. It said 14 servings with 16 crackers in each bag.

Broke free!

I did it! I broke out of last weeks funk and finally got back under my second goal of 250. I am 249 today! Woot! I didn't weigh at all yesterday or Monday but it said i went down like 2.4 lbs since Sunday. I've been losing like a pound a day since i admitted to screwing things up and being determined to fix them. Double woot! i feel good! Going on vacation tomorrow so wish me well on making all the right choices whenever its time to eat! :D I'm going shopping in a little bit to find some things I can snack on in the long car ride like carrots and stuff that wont kill my diet.

Not so "Fat Tuesday"...

I SURVIVED FAT TUESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woot. lol. and Jett's dad was down today and didnt have time to come pick him up so he asked me to meet them at a mexican resturaunt so they could have lunch with us before they had to head back. well i managed to not eat any chips or salsa AGAIN! woot woot! :)

Steady as she goes

Rocked it yesterday and went down a pound, rocking it again today and am down almsot 2 more pounds. Getting closer to where I was at, just 2 more lbs to get back on track. Feeling good about myself. I walked and pushed Jett in his stroller for an hour and a half today and did my workout after we got back. I'm about to make myself dinner and already typed in all the calories for today and what I'm about to eat. I'm below a thousand still so woot! :)

Wooohoo!!!

I did it!!!!! I went to a mexican resturaunt with 11 other people who all ate chips and salsa while waiting for them to get our food out. Which took forever because there were 12 plates to serve... so yeah.. it was a long and grueling wait, but i did not cave. I didn't eat any chips or any salsa. I ordered a chicken breast and it was freaking delicious! Came with a pineapple slice on top with a cherry in the middle too which was a nice surprise since that wasnt even listed on the menu that it came that way. haha. Had some rice and beans and am stuffed. I feel great. :)

100 Days on the Wii Fit

Today I reached 100 days of loggin on to my Wii Fit to workout. I've had it since around my birthday in November but didnt start using it every day until January 15th. I guess that's some sort of accomplishment though. I'm not sure I've ever dedicated myself to working out anywhere near as much as I have by now so thats cool I guess. I'm still not feeling my best because I am still up a few pounds from where I had reached the week before, but I am down 1 lb from yesterday so not bad. It took me a week to put those few pounds back on so I know I wont lose them overnight. I'm just so ready to move on and keep sliding on down the scale. :)

I've had a decent breakfast and lunch today. Did all 2 hours of my workout and had my protein shake and vitamin. I'm about to head out with my dad and brother to their boyscout meeting and me and Jett are going to take TJ over to the park to kill time while his older brothers enjoy their first meeting in their new troop. I am almost positive that we will be stopping to eat on the way home. Most likely it will be mexican food. The place is local though so I can't really look up their menu items online to prepare myself beforehand for what I will order. But I am conciously thinking about what decisions I should make right now. I am not going to have any chips or salsa this time. I will just drink water while I wait. I will order something like grilled chicken breast or whatever I can find on the menu that looks like the healthiest and tastiest option for me. I will not over indulge or make the mistakes I have in the past of thinking I can handle eating just one chip, etc.. I can do this right and I'm going to.

I will not fail today. :D

Crap

I feel like crap. lol. Seriously though, this week has been soo terrible.

Sunday - impromptu Angie visit, no workout
Wednesday - Went walking with my nephews instead of working out. So it wasn't near as hardcore as my normal routine.
Thursday - Didn't get to walk or get to any of my workouts because I was too busy doing other things while my nephews were here and hogging the tv. lol.
Friday - My parent's took us out to a chinese buffet and I took in wayyy too many calories.

So today when I stepped on the scale and saw I went up like 4 lbs I was not happy. Not really shocked though considering the slacking going on all week. It figures it would finally catch up with me. I saw those numbers though and was determined to work my butt off today and get all my exercises out of the way before my nephews show back up. So far I've done an hour and a half. I'm saving the last half hour for just before bed. But I feel good, I worked up a big sweat and drank my protein shake and took my one-a-day vitamin. I had a decent salad for breakfast and am about to go make a tuna salad sandwich for lunch now.

I need to snap out of this funk and put this week behind me. Tomorrow is the start of a new week and time for me to really bring my A game. :)

Kids are exhausting

My nephews have been over here the last few days and I've ran around with them doing this that and the other. Havent gotten to actually do my exercises I normally do but I have a feeling I still got my 2 hours in.

They were gone today but will be back tomorrow. While they were gone I decided to use the leaf blower on the front yard and get everything out of the fenced in area so Jett could find all his toys and have more room to play. Before I knew it I had spent almost 3 hours using that dang thing! My arm is still all tingly from it. I can feel my muscles where I was holding it up everytime I try to pick up my water bottle or a gallon of milk from the fridge to get Jett something to drink. I did not realize I was doing that for so long. I got an hour and a half in on the Wiifit today too so I managed to get in my workout today one way or another.

I think I probably went overboard at dinner tonight though. We went out to a buffet and its soo hard to resist temptation there. I didnt get as much as I normally would have, but I still think it was probably too much. Oh well tomorrow is a new day.

Walking around the neighborhood

I spent 2 hours today chasing after my 3 nephews who were walking and biking around the neighborhood with Jett in tow in a little bike cart attached to the bike. I walked and I jogged and I even rode the bike a litle bit too. It was such a gorgeous day today and we got all that done before noon. :)

Busy day today..

but I've managed to do alright anyways. So far I've got an hour and a half of my working out done, just a half hour session before bed tonight left to do. I've been eating alright and not had any time to stop and think about snacking. Just made a delicious dinner and am enjoying it right now. Apparently all this is about 385 Calories. Yum!